Stars shine on Royton’s big day

FORMER England captain Michael Vaughan accepts the applause of cricket fans as he goes out to bat in last night’s Twenty20 game between the NatWest Legends and Royton CC.

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CRICKET:

THE sun shone and cricket fans turned out in force as a team of former England stars took on Royton at the Paddock last night.

The NatWest Legends X1 won the Twenty20 match by four runs, but it was Royton who emerged as the real winners thanks to the money raised.

Iconic figure Michael Vaughan, who led England to Ashes glory in 2005, was the star attraction, but others such as Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small, Alex Tudor and Neil Fairbrother all turned out to show their skills and sign autographs for the huge crowd.

The event, run under the NatWest banner, was staged to raise money for the Paddock club’s efforts to fund a new electronic scoreboard and other important work at the ground.

Part of the money raised from a hugely-successful evening will go towards the Shaw gas blast fund. A previous fund-raising event at Royton raised £11,000.

Events started with a coaching session for the Royton youngsters, a project close to the heart of Vaughan.

He said: “I began cricket as a nine-year-old with Abbey Dale Park in Sheffield before playing for Yorkshire schoolboys and then joining the county, so I know how important it is for youngsters to start out at clubs like Royton.”

Busy Vaughan is happy to help clubs like Royton raise money.

He added: “I sat down with NatWest and we decided this was the best way to help out local cricket clubs.”




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